The Great Game Called Cricket...

A dry slow pitch and the early fall of Sachin Tendulkar, on whom Mumbai Indians tend to depend far too much, combined to produce a thrilling game that concluded in the last over at the Brabourne Stadium. Set a target of 164 after Lasith Malinga had restricted Kings XI Punjab with a four-for, Mumbai stumbled at various points of the chase but found enough vital contributions to clinch the game with three balls to spare. Shikhar Dhawan laid the platform with a half-century, Saurabh Tiwary lifted Mumbai with a breezy 31 just when it seemed they might lose their way, and R Sathish produced the final flourish to push them past the line and take them a step closer towards a semi-final berth .

Mumbai needed 19 from the final two overs but Sathish produced two skillful hits to the ropes - an inside-out shot over covers and a whip-lash square drive - off Ravi Bopara, and Saurabh Tiwary thrashed a straight boundary to leave themselves six to get of the final over. Sathish held his nerves to collect couple of driven two's and Brett Lee fired a wide down the leg side, as Punjab slipped to their sixth defeat in the tournament.

It wasn't quite a quality game, but it made for interesting viewing. Despite a composed fifty from Dhawan, Mumbai dawdled in the chase to reach a situation where they needed 57 from 33 balls. It was at this point that the game started to turn in their favour. Tiwary slog-swept Piyush Chawla for a six and Ambati Rayudu pulled the same bowler to the wide long-on boundary to reduce the equation to 46 from 30 balls. However, Bopara, who bowled medium pace not dissimilar to Chris Harris, slipped in a few tight overs in the company of the equally impressive Shalabh Srivastava.

And when Bopara picked up the vital wicket of Dwayne Bravo with a slower one and Srivastava bowled a few dot balls, the equation read 27 from 15 balls. It was a make or a break moment, and Tiwary forced Mumbai ahead with a fierce flat-batted six over long-off off Srivastava; Sathish settled the issue in the next over with his strikes against Bopara.

It was a chase that ebbed and flowed right from the start. Dhawan had started it with two boundaries in Lee's first over but Srivastava bowled a tight over to keep Tendulkar quiet. It was the first sign that things might not be so easy for Mumbai. Chawla then struck a big blow, luring Tendulkar to hole out to long-on in the sixth over to push Mumbai to 42 for 1. Dhawan and Kieron Pollard pushed Mumbai forward but Pollard holed out to long-on, and Dhawan to long-off, to leave their team struggling at 91 for 3 from 11.4 overs. But they found enough firepower from the lower middle-order to clinch their sixth win.

Just as they allowed things to drift a touch in the chase, they had earlier allowed Punjab to stretch the target. Malinga had sizzled with three wickets from four balls, which included a perfect yorker to knock out Shaun Marsh, the only batsman who offered some resistance, as Mumbai restricted Punjab to 163. But you couldn't escape the feeling that had Mumbai produced their top game, Punjab would have struggled to get past 125.

Barring Marsh, Punjab's batsmen looked woefully out of touch. With the exception of Sachin Tendulkar, who was visibly agitated with his team-mates on a few occasions, Mumbai's men seemed to lack intensity in the first half of the game. The fielding was largely shoddy, with the irregular keeper Ambati Rayudu setting the tone, but they lifted their game after the first time-out and had enough skill with their bowling to restrict Punjab to a gettable score.

If Punjab got anywhere close to a decent score, they have only Marsh to thank for. This was his first IPL game this season but he looked in good touch right from the start. He collected four boundaries in his first ten balls, with a peachy on-the-up on drive against Ryan McLaren being the highlight. Regular fall of wickets, though, forced him to slow down and drop anchor. As witnessed in the first IPL, he kept things really simple: He stayed still on the leg-stump guard, preferring to stay completely beside the line of the ball, and played his drives. There was one big hit as well, when he went down on his knee to swing a slower one from Pollard from outside off over the long-on boundary; but for the majority of his innings, he drove along the ground.

He didn't find much support from his team-mates, though. Mahela Jayawardene struggled to get the ball off the turf initially and had problems running between the wickets. A run-out seemed inevitable and that's how he went in the end. Bopara missed a full and straight ball from Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh shovelled a slower one from Bravo straight to short fine-leg. Even Irfan Pathan, who has batted really well in this tournament, failed to convert a start. To his credit though, it took a good catch from Harbhajan Singh, running to his right from midwicket, to end his stay. And when Marsh fell next ball, Punjab were tottering at 124 for 6 from 16 overs before Piyush Chawla pushed them past 160, which proved inadequate, but only just.

Match Meter

MIDouble-strike: In the 16th over, Malinga induced Irfan to miscue a drive and Harbhajan took an excellent catch. The next ball, Marsh was bowled by a superb yorker and Punjab were kept to 163.
KXIPThe big scalp: Tendulkar charged out to lift Chawla over the straight boundary but the ball gripped and turned to force him to hole out to long-on.
KXIPThe fall of Bravo: Bravo did loft Bopara for a six but fell the next ball, fooled by a slower one to hand a catch back to the bowler. Mumbai were five down, needing 31 in three overs.
MIThe final rush: 27 needed off 15. Tiwary swung the game with a fierce flat-batted six. In the next over, Sathish hit two boundaries followed by Tiwary's bludgeon down the ground, which made it six off the final over. Advantage Honours even

Mohammad Ashraful, who was dropped from all squads for the recent home series against England, has been recalled to Bangladesh's 15-member squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies in April-May. There are no new faces in the squad, but two players who made their international debuts against England, batsman Jahurul Islam and left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo, have also been included.

Ashraful, who was dropped to sort out his poor batting form, received the backing of the selectors based on his potential as a big hitter in the game's shortest format. "Ashraful is a potential match-winner and his ability to improvise in limited-overs cricket makes him an important part of the team in this tournament," said Rafiqul Alam, the chairman of selectors. "We know that he is trying as hard as anybody to fulfill his enormous promise and we expect him to fire."

Jahurul, who made his Test debut in Mirpur earlier this month, was the leading run-scorer in the first-class National Cricket League with 965 runs at 68.92 for Rajshahi Division. "He (Jahurul) is capable of playing the big shots and by sheer weight of his consistent performance over the years at first-class, academy and club level he has earned his spot," Alam said. "He can also be our back-up wicketkeeper and his fielding is also good."

Another notable inclusion was that of fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, who had opted out midway through the ODIs against England and the subsequent Tests following a disagreement over his fitness. However, he later joined his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mates at the ongoing IPL and the selectors are happy with the way he is shaping up.

"From the information we have received on Mortaza, he is fit and has been in full rhythm at the training of his Indian Premier League club Kolkata Knight Riders," Alam said. "He will definitely bolster our pace attack and his late-order power batting could come in handy too."

Bangladesh have been placed in Group A with Pakistan and Australia. They begin their campaign against Pakistan, in St Lucia on May 1.

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim (vice-capt/wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Shafiul Islam, Rubel Hossain, Syed Rasel, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Jahurul Islam (wk)

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has announced his retirement from international cricket, following an indefinite ban imposed by the PCB in the aftermath of a winless tour of Australia. However, Yousuf appears to have kept a window open for return to the international arena, for he repeatedly said the decision to retire was "for now."

"This is my retirement. I have retired from international cricket," Yousuf told reporters in Karachi. "I received a letter from the PCB that my staying in the team is harmful for the team, so I announce my retirement from international cricket." However, when asked if the decision was final, Yousuf said: "For now, this is what I can see, that my playing for Pakistan is damaging. For now, this is it, for now this is my retirement.

"I thank the fans around the world, all the senior players and family members for supporting me throughout my 12-year career. I always played for my country and if my playing is harmful for the team then I don't want to play," he said.

Yousuf had, last week, said he was preparing to retire and that he would make a formal announcement today. He played 88 Tests, nine as captain and scored 7,431 runs at an average of 53.07, including 24 centuries. He also scored 9,624 runs in 282 one-day internationals.

Yousuf was among seven Pakistan players penalised, for various reasons, by the PCB. He and Younis Khan were handed indefinite bans, Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were banned for a year while Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers were fined and placed on probation for six months.

The recommendations for punishment were made by an inquiry committee set up by the board after Pakistan were beaten in each of their nine international matches on the tour of Australia. Seven of those losses - three in Tests and four in ODIs - came under the leadership of Yousuf.

In their findings, the board blamed Yousuf and Younis for spreading infighting and indiscipline within the side . He was subsequently not included in the central contracts list for this year.

"Everyone has their own thinking and the disciplinary committee has its own thinking and I haven't understood the reasons for it, or senior players, or the public," Yousuf said. Among the seven penalised players, Afridi has already lodged an appeal against the punishment while Malik and Naved are preparing to do so. Yousuf said he'd "speak to elders" over whether to follow suit. "Retirement I have given but as far as the appeal is concerned I will speak to my elders and if they allow me to, I will appeal," he said.

While he's ruled himself out of international cricket for the time being, Yousuf said he would continue playing first-class and league cricket.

Whack, whack, wicket
Opening the bowling with Chris Gayle's offspin was a gamble, but boy did it pay off. After two dot balls and a single, Virender Sehwag got on strike. Gayle's tactics were clear: fire the ball into the blockhole. But Sehwag skipped out, made two deliveries into full tosses and hammered boundaries past cover. For the last ball, Gayle slowed it up and bowled it wide, Sehwag charged again, missed, and was stumped. Gayle's impromptu jig was in stark contrast to Sehwag's loping return to the dug-out.

Third time's a charm
Three overs, three wickets, and each one to the final delivery of an over. Sehwag fell to the last ball of the first over, Gautam Gambhir was lbw to the sixth of Charl Langeveldt's first over, and Ishant Sharma hit back by inducing an inside edge from Dinesh Karthik into to his stumps, after David Warner had smacked him around for five deliveries.

Caught or not?
Warner, on 96, advanced to Murali Kartik and drove the ball hard. Kartik flung himself to his left and appeared to have taken a low catch with both hands. Warner didn't challenge the catch and walked off but then the umpires converged and had a chat. Warner, nearly back to the dug-out, was called back because the men who matter were not convinced Kartik had taken it cleanly. Replays later showed the ball had bounced before Kartik took it, and the Kotla faithful created a tumultuous din.

Pure intensity
In the final over of Delhi innings, Paul Collingwood launched a full toss from Langeveldt to long-on. David Hussey backpedaled, jumped up, got a hand to the ball, and parried it over the boundary. But then, in a moment of genius, Hussey jumped over the rope, threw the ball back over while in the air, and took the catch after jumping back into play. The feat needed presence of mind and athleticism. It was almost an identical copy of the catch that Angelo Matthews, Hussey's Kolkata team-mate, took in the ICC World Twenty20 last year.

You hit, I york
Mathews had just flicked Umesh Yadav for four past a diving fielder on the square-leg boundary when the most promising Indian domestic fast bowler of the tournament produced a magnificent yorker. It was full, fast and uprooted middle stump before Mathews' bat was halfway down, and a pumped-up Yadav celebrated with a few expletives that won't win him a Spirit of Cricket award.

Wounded Nannes
Everyone in Delhi seems to love Dirk Nannes, he of the boyish smile and fiery left-arm fast bowling, which more often than not returns economical figures. There were plenty of cheers when Nannes hit the stumps while bowling during practice before the game, and what followed after he struck the first blow for Delhi - uprooting Sourav Ganguly's leg stump - was deafening. However, when Wriddhiman Saha struck a meaty drive back in the air, Nannes let out a shriek in pain as the ball bruised his outstretched hand. He left the field and the home crowd let him know just how much he'd been valued on the evening.

Karthik getting Kartik
Murali Kartik got a faint edge to a yorker from Andrew McDonald off the penultimate delivery of the game and stumbled forward after losing balance. The ball kissed his boot and dribbled back toward the stumps, but Kartik ambled out of his crease. In a flash Dinesh Karthik leapt from behind the stumps and affected a smart run-out.

Wickets fell in each of the first three overs of Delhi Daredevils innings, but David Warner batted on some other island to score the second century of this year's IPL, his first in Twenty20s. On a track that assisted spinners, Delhi bowled smartly to never be threatened in the defence, winning comfortably and moving back to the top four.

Neither did the Kolkata Knight Riders attack elicit respect from Warner, nor did the situation result in apprehension: he just cleared the front leg and hit his way to 107 off 69. The support required amid early wickets came from half-centurion Paul Collingwood, whose innings came straight out of the Paul Collingwood school of batting - practically without a back lift. Out of their 128-run stand in 16.2 overs, Warner scored 74 off 54.

David Hussey, bowling so round-arm he looked like Lasith Malinga bowling off a two-step run-up, and Murali Kartik were Kolkata's best bowlers, going for just 50 in their eight overs. They lost Angelo Mathews, who had conceded 11 in two overs, when he had his upper lip opened up while pulling off a diving save at the long-on boundary. The other 10 overs, though, featured a lot of loose bowling, and duly went for 116 runs.

On a slow, turning pitch, Warner's technique was simple: clear the front leg, don't commit to any shot, and decide based on what kind of delivery it is. Throughout his innings, right from his first boundary slashed over point in the second over to his last six hit over long-off in the last over, he displayed this wonderful ability to hit to any part of the field from the same position. Between those two shots, he hit eight other fours and four other sixes. Anything full headed towards cow corner and midwicket, width had wide mid-off and point peppered. He also got a few generous long hops on the pads.


Advantage Honours even

A returning Charl Langeveldt saw the flames right up, and the returning Ishant Sharma was charred in his first over. Still both of them managed a wicket each, and it was a desirable start to have Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik back in three overs. However, they had another think coming.

Warner's four fours and a six off 12 balls had taken Delhi to 38 in those three overs already. Langeveldt came back in the fifth over, and was smashed for a four and a six. Hussey bowled a tight over to end the Powerplay, but at 62 for 3 Delhi could afford to consolidate. By the time Ajit Agarkar was introduced in the 12th over, Warner had paced his way to 66 off 42, Collingwood to 19 off 18, and Delhi were 97.

Agarkar provided Delhi the next thrust: Warner smacked the loose deliveries, and Collingwood manufactured a boundary by walking down the track and flicking him over midwicket. Between the 14th over and the 17th, even as Warner moved closer to his century, the spinners allowed only 17 runs.

In the 18th over came drama, when Kartik claimed a tough return catch. A disappointed Warner walked back on 96, but the third umpire, who didn't find the catch clean, had him back. Kartik still finished off well, but in the next over Collingwood took over the hitting, lofting Gayle for two sixes, just clearing the rope.

After letting Warner stroll to his century, Collingwood went for his third low six in the last two overs when Hussey produced the rare bright moment for Kolkata - a play that involved parrying the ball over the boundary, getting it back into play, and then diving back in to complete one of the most awesome catches ever. Good hands, sharp brain, an athletic body, all came together.

Yet 28 came in the last two, and Kolkata needed an extraordinary start on a difficult pitch. Something quite opposite happened: Sourav Ganguly was like a rabbit caught in headlights against Dirk Nannes, Manoj Tiwary was done in by an Andrew McDonald offcutter that stayed low, and Mandeep Singh was owned by Amit Mishra. When David Hussey survived a plumb lbw first ball and Chris Gayle was dropped off Mishra the next ball, Kolkata were 34 for 3 in 5.2 overs.

Neither of the beneficiaries could hurt Delhi, and as the required rate rose both of them holed out, leaving Umesh Yadav to make a mark with quick and full bowling for two wickets. Mishra was the pick of the bowlers, mixing the googlies and sliders well, and should have had Hussey and Gayle added to his figures of 1 for 18.

The difficulty with which Kolkata struggled to 137 underlined the value of Warner's knock, which took the pitch and the match state out of the equation.

Match Meter

* KKR DD
*
Warner ignores falling wickets: Kolkata took out three big batsmen in the first three overs, but Warner smashed four fours and a six in the same time, taking the pressure off

*
DD
*
The big finish: Warner and Paul Collingwood took 28 off the last two overs, and both reached their personal milestones to put the matter almost beyond Kolkata

*
DD
*
Top-order fails: Ganguly was like a rabbit caught in headlights against Nannes, Tiwary was bowled by McDonald, and Mandeep was owned by Amit Mishra; the game was all but over

*
DD
*
Gayle goes, game over: Gayle managed two fours and two sixes in his innings, but under the pressure of rising rates, he holed out to midwicket. Game, set, match Delhi.

This sluggish, lopsided and almost painful to watch Twenty20 affair was summed up in two overs, the last of Kolkata Knight Riders' innings, which transformed the game, and the sixth of Kings XI Punjab's reply.

Punjab began that fateful final over well, conceding a single and picking a wicket, but Irfan Pathan bled runs off the remaining balls. Later in the night, having just taken Ajit Agarkar - in his come-back over - for four and six in two deliveries to get the asking-rate under control, Yuvraj Singh failed to curb his enthusiasm and slogged one high into the sky. When it finally came down, it landed in the outstretched hands of an athletic Manoj Tiwary, who covered ground and never lost sight of the ball to pull off a cracker. Those two overs summed up Punjab's plight this season and will no doubt return to haunt them if their campaign continues to remain so woefully inept. Their two most experienced Indian players just haven't hit a rhythm with their primary tasks.

A total of 162 for 4 from 19 overs was decent, but it wasn't daunting. Then Tiwary larruped Irfan's last four deliveries for 20 runs and lifted the run-rate by nearly one an over. With the batsmen ready to swing at whatever came their way, spin was not an option for Kumar Sangakkara, but was Irfan the right man for the job? His three overs had cost 21 runs for one wicket, and Shalabh Srivastava, who had 2 for 23 from three overs, was the alternative. As it transpired, Sangakkara's decision proved unsuccessful, but he should have seen what was coming.

Irfan came into this match with a bowling average of 47.66 and an economy rate of 8.66. He had taken three wickets in five games. A vital player for Punjab, given his all-round ability, he had been floundering in his main occupation. Given his descent as a bowler in the last few years, his lack of penetration must have come as no surprise. Irfan was once again the trundler that fans have now grown accustomed to. There was no pace and Tiwary slapped the short ball for a flat six; a full and wide delivery was drilled past cover; an even fuller ball disappeared back over Irfan's head for a maximum; the last one was so predictable that Tiwary was already hanging on the back foot to get four more.

An innings that had begun in rampant fashion with Brett Lee being flayed for 19 runs ended on a similar note. Irfan's body language said it all as he walked off the field. He had again failed to deliver as a bowler. Like Yuvraj with the bat this season, Irfan's failure as a bowler capable of striking with the new ball and at the death has really hurt this team. Unlike in Test cricket, where you can have a poor session, or 50-over cricket, where you can go for a few runs in the Powerplays before staging a comeback, Twenty20 is merciless. A couple of bad overs and the game slides out of reach. Irfan had four bad deliveries and that made a big difference in the ultimate result.

When Agarkar began the sixth over of Punjab's reply, he was holding a cricket ball for the first time on an IPL field this season. His first ball was on the pads but Yuvraj, who had boldly decided to open, missed out. The next two deliveries were vintage Yuvraj, and hinted that he was finally going to roar and that Agarkar, much to the delight of many a sceptic, was proving to be cannon fodder. Those two brute shots from Yuvraj had all but leveled the asking-rate. But yet again, one of Punjab's vital players chose to disappoint. Impetuosity got the better of Yuvraj and he couldn't resist going for another six. The steepler went up into the night and it was that man Tiwary who was in the thick of things again.

The team's top batsman had been dismissed and with that the chase fizzled out. Yuvraj's poor form is directly linked to Punjab's failings. Today he appeared clueless against Shane Bond, beating beaten by pace, and edging outside off a few times. He saw Agarkar come on and thought he had an escape route, but it didn't work out. Given the dead nature of the Mohali pitch, Sangakkara would have expected his batsmen to make a fist of this chase. Instead, Bond began with a one-run first over in which he sent back Ravi Bopara, and then Yuvraj lost it once again. That wicket set in motion one of the ugliest chases in the IPL, with all the batsmen playing well below their best. This was a match that Punjab could have won, and they will look back regretfully at another damning passage of play where they simply refused to go forward. At the fall of the third wicket, Sangakkara was joined by Mahela Jayawardene and the Sri Lankan duo stitched together 34 runs in six overs, allowing the asking rate to go past 15.

Punjab's campaign is yet to take off and the wheels are already coming off rapidly. Given the way their two best Indian players failed, in the capacity they are most expected to deliver, this loss - their fifth in six games - will hurt a lot more than most. Though Sangakkara tried to put on a brave face by speaking of trying to find the best position for players to bat, and that the only way to go was up, the downward spiral will only continue unless Yuvraj and Irfan get their act together.

Kumar Sangakkara,the captain of Kings XI Punjab, has been banned for one match after his side was found guilty of not completing their overs on time, for the third time in the IPL. The latest instance was on Saturday, in the defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali.

"KXIP slow on over rate again tonight. Sanga (Sangakkara) banned for 1 game," IPL chief executive Sundar Raman said on his Twitter page, shortly after the completion of the match. Sangakkara, being a repeat-offender was fined $50,000, while each of his team-mates were poorer by $20,000.

Right through the tournament, the IPL has come down hard on captains for shoddy over-rates. After the first three games of the 2010 season, four captains - Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Sangakkara - were fined $20,000 each because their teams were not able to complete its overs on time.

Punjab were once again at the receiving end, after falling one over short of the requirement during their defeat against Rajasthan on March 24.

"It is a matter of internal discussions. we are still finalising the details", Anil Srivatsa, Punjab's CEO told Cricinfo when asked if the franchise would be shelling out the penalty imposed on Sangakkara and the entire team.

Despite being hauled up twice for the offence, Punjab fell short of the necessary over-rates against Kolkata, prompting the harsh punishment. The one-match ban for their captain adds to Punjab's woes, as they continue to struggle for form on the field, and are languishing at the bottom of the table with five defeats in six games. Their next match is against table-toppers Mumbai Indians, on March 30.

What was your nickname in college?
Jocka, from jock, or underwear. I really didn't know why they called me that. But I was not offended because I knew it was a joke.

What are your nicknames in the Kolkata and Sri Lanka dressing rooms?
"Angie" at KKR. And "Superman" in Sri Lanka, because I wear my jocks over my tights.

Why do you that?
My legs are a bit bulky and I get scratches, so I wear the jocks over the tights.

We hear you were the teachers' pet in college and everyone liked you?
Most of the teachers liked me because I was humble, even though I was naughty.

What Indian movie stars have you met during your time at KKR?
I met Priyanka Chopra one time. We were in our towels, coming out of the pool. She was with Shah Rukh Khan and we didn't recognise her immediately. I only looked at her when one of the players said it was Priyanka. We were happy to see her. It was embarrassing being in the towel, but she was very nice.

What about Shah Rukh?
He speaks a lot with us. Every time, before or after a game, he tells us the result doesn't matter. He spends a lot of time with us, which is very encouraging.

If Sri Lanka made it to the World Cup final and you were in the side, what would you write on the whiteboard in the dressing room before the game?
"We will win it."

Do you know how the Kolkata team song goes?
Gorbo, lorbo, jeetbo. [Nearly correct: it is Korbo, lorbo, jitbo.] It was the first thing my manager told me after I got the KKR deal.

Is there a game from history where you wanted to be the player who turned the match on its head?
Sachin [Tendullkar] scoring 200. Scoring a double in an ODI is very special and only one man has done it so far, so it is great.

Speaking about landmarks, you missed out on your maiden Test century when you were run out on 99.
Yes. I felt so bad. Getting the first Test hundred is very important to a cricketer. It was a very disappointing, very emotional moment for me.

Did you cry on returning to the dressing room?
Quite a bit, but I recovered quickly. My senior team-mates, like Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, told me they had been through similar situations and that there will be many more opportunities in the future to come back and get hundreds. Those were kind words.

Who is your favourite athlete outside cricket?
Roger Federer. He has been through a lot, losing so many times earlier in his career. But he came back without giving up on his game.

Tell us something we don't know about you?
I can cook a little. Pasta and the Sri Lankan dish pol sambol.

What's the one thing tourists should never do in Sri Lanka?
Don't feed monkeys, because they will keep coming back and become a pain.

What's a curse word you can use in Sri Lanka that people will not be offended by?
Pissu. It means crazy.

Name an allrounder you would like to emulate.
Sir Garfield Sobers. If I can be like him even a little, it will be wonderful.

Did you know he was the first Sri Lankan coach?
I didn't know that.

How come you don't have tattoos, earrings or gold necklaces?
I just want to be me. For me, colouring hair, wearing tattoos, piercing does nothing. I just want to be my natural self.

Sourav Ganguly hit a composed half-century and Manoj Tiwary exploded after a slow start to boost Kolkata Knight Riders to 183, a total beyond the reach of a listless Kings XI Punjab. It was a mediocre game, especially from Punjab, who were so painfully slow that they fell out of the reckoning very early in the chase.

It made for strange viewing that no one took ownership of the chase as the game kept slipping away from Punjab. Yuvraj Singh and Manvinder Bisla hit a few boundaries early on in the piece but both fell to Ajit Agarkar - Manoj Tiwary held on to a splendid running catch at deep midwicket to remove Yuvraj - and the chase started to derail. What baffled was the approach of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, who allowed the pressure to mount. They didn't go for any big shots and left themselves with too much to do in the end. With the run-rate mounting at an exponential rate, both fell while going for high-risk shots: Jayawardene moved outside off stump and couldn't connect with the paddle shot, and Sangakkara was stumped as he lost balance while going for a reverse slog. Game over.

The victory, though, was set up by Kolkata's batting, led by Ganguly and Tiwary. It was an interesting innings: just when the visitors were letting things slip, they would attack. Their batting graph resembled a sine curve: Kolkata attacked at the top before they suddenly lost steam and meandered for a while, but they picked up the momentum after the first time-out. They slowed down once again towards the end but Tiwary looted 21 runs in the final over, bowled by Irfan Pathan, to regain lost ground.


Advantage Honours even

The start too was frenetic with Brett Lee's first over on comeback going for 19 runs. Chris Gayle hit some smashing drives but, to be fair to the bowler, there was an edged boundary and a yorker that went for four byes as well. And when Ganguly went after Pathan in the second over, lifting him over cover and smashing him to the straight boundary, Kolkata had reached a healthy 27 for 0, but suddenly, against the run of play, they started to slow down.

Shalabh Srivastava struck for Punjab, removing Gayle with more than little help from Bisla, who charged to his left on the deep square-leg boundary and lunged as the ball swerved away from him to take a stunning two-handed catch. Ganguly collected a couple of boundaries but, with Tiwary struggling at the start, the run-rate started to dip. There were 27 dot balls in the first ten overs, nearly five full overs of stagnation, but the time-out allowed Kolkata to regroup and come out firing.

All of a sudden, Tiwary started finding his touch and two shots in particular showcased his skill. The first was against a near yorker-length delivery well outside off, he reached out to crash it to cover boundary. The second was even better. Ravi Bopara's yorker was heading towards off and middle, when Tiwary crouched to play a delicate late-cut to the third-man boundary. In between, he swung over midwicket, and backed away from the stumps to drive through off. Ganguly lashed out at Piyush Chawla, lofting and flaying him for boundaries and runs started to come in a flood.

However, Kolkata lost momentum again after the fall of Ganguly - hitting Pathan to long-off. From 124 for 2 in 14 overs, they slowed down to 162 for 4 in 19. Tiwary then took Pathan apart in the final over, smashing four boundaries - a pulled six after which he backed away to find the wide long-off boundary repeatedly. The brutal finish seemed to have sucked out the spirit from Punjab, who dawdled in the chase.

Match Meter

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KKR
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Lee goes for 19: Lee nearly had Chris Gayle twice but still leaked runs in the first over of the match as Gayle smashed him through cover and midwicket.

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KKR
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Tiwary loots Irfan: Manoj Tiwary pulled the third delivery of the 20th over for six, crashed the fourth over extra cover, lofted the next over long-off and lifted the last one to wide long-off boundary, as Irfan leaked 21 runs.

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KKR
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Tiwary takes a blinder: Having just hit the shot of the day off Ajit Agarkar, Yuvraj pulled him towards deep-midwicket in the 6th over of the chase, where Tiwary rushed forward and dived to his right to take the screamer.

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KKR
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Sanga and Mahela crawl painfully: The out-of-form pair turned in another listless performance today. They added just 34 in over 6 overs and allowed the required rate to climb over 15, before Mathews yorked Mahela to end the agony in the 14th over.

He has 179 Ranji Trophy wickets at 22.15 over six seasons, in each of which he has scalped more than 20. He was the domestic bowler of the year in 2007-08 after dismissing 47 batsmen in nine matches. Despite these achievements, Karnataka seamer R Vinay Kumar remains unfamiliar to most Indian fans, and he didn't even find a place on the BCCI's 41-man list of contracted players last November.

"It's a real big surprise for me why he's not made the next level," his state coach Sanath Kumar says. "He bowls at about 130kmh, which is pretty decent, moves the ball both ways and is very accurate."

This season has been Vinay's finest yet. With the added responsibility of grooming two young, talented quick bowlers in Abhimanyu Mithun and S Aravind, he has been at the forefront of Karnataka's charge to the final. His 43 wickets put him on top of the Ranji charts this season, including a personal-best eight-wicket burst against Delhi, and on the big occasion of the final, he calmed the team nerves by slicing through the Mumbai top order.


Vinay debuted for the Karnataka Ranji side as a 20-year-old in 2004-05, when the team was looking for the next generation of fast bowling talent after the retirement of David Johnson and with another stalwart, Dodda Ganesh, fading. He was an instant success, getting the wickets of Sourav Ganguly and Rohan Gavaskar on debut, and has played in nearly every Karnataka match since.

He is deeply disappointed at not making it to the national team so far. "I feel bad that no one is recognising me. Everyone knows that I've been doing well for the last six years," Vinay says. He turned to Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid for advice, and their guidance kept him focused. "They would say that your day will come. Don't get desperate. If you are, then your bowling will suffer and you may start doing new things that will spoil your bowling."

He also sought the counsel of one of his first coaches, LM Prakash, from his hometown of Davanagere. "I keep telling him to concentrate on bowling well and not to bother about the results," Prakash says, "to keep enjoying himself, keep performing for the team to win, and wait for his time to come."

Now 25, Vinay is at an age by which most Indian cricketers have already made the breakthrough - several competitors for a national pace-bowling spot like Sreesanth, RP Singh and Munaf Patel are roughly as old as him, while Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi are younger. Perhaps there is a different route to the top?

"I'm making him realise that he has to get into the national team as an allrounder," Sanath says. "Probably the place which has been left vacant by Irfan Pathan. I'm telling him all the time he has got tremendous potential as a batsman."

Vinay started out for his first club, United Cricketers, as a batsman, idolising Dravid and wanting to copy his batting style. "He was concentrating more on his batting initially," Prakash says, "There was a bowling coach Prakash Powar, a fast bowler for Goa, who thought there was talent in Vinay as a medium-pacer. He made him bowl at the nets and Vinay started playing as an allrounder. Gradually, as he progressed to the higher levels, his bowling started getting more recognition, but even up to the zonal under-19s he was scoring plenty of runs."

Two seasons ago, during former India allrounder Vijay Bharadwaj's tenure as Karnataka coach, Vinay was tried as a pinch-hitter for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The experiment was a partial success: he made a quickfire 32 and a couple of half-centuries in six innings. "All my coaches tell me I have a good technique in batting, and want me to concentrate on that," Vinay says. "After getting so many wickets, I'm not getting enough recognition. I have to score. Now, slowly, I'm concentrating on my batting as well."

Karnataka fast bowler Vinay Kumar is the only new face in India's 15-man squad for the World Twenty20, while legspinner Piyush Chawla returns to the national side after nearly two years. With both Gautam Gambhir and Ashish Nehra declared fit, the rest of the squad pick themselves, Rohit Sharma retaining his place under massive pressure from Virat Kolhi through ODI runs, and Manish Pandey through a bumper Ranji season and impressive showing in the IPL. Vinay has edged out Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth, both part of India's last Twenty20 squad.

Parallels could be drawn with India's selection of Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, who were still recovering from injuries, for last year's World Twenty20. Then, as the selectors said later, India had taken the risk and paid for it: Sehwag didn't manage a single game, and Zaheer was not at his best. This time, though, Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of national selection committee, confirmed all players had sent in their fitness certificates, and that there were no fitness worries in the squad.

The selectors resisted the temptation of looking outside the 30 probables they had earlier announced, after Robin Uthappa's fireworks in the IPL, and Irfan Pathan's return to fitness. Instead they went for the tried and tested names there: Rohit in the middle order, and Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja as allrounders. As expected, Jadeja's controversial omission from the IPL didn't hamper his future with the national side.

While the selectors didn't get carried away by a few good performances in the first third of the IPL, Vinay's impressive bowling in the event so far, in addition to yet another big domestic season, was enough for the nod. Vinay, the fourth seamer in the squad, picked 46 Ranji wickets, and as a timely nudge, is currently joint-second on the IPL wicket-takers' list, bagging eight for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The same formula didn't work for his state-mate Pandey, though. He was the leading run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy, and has been valuable for Bangalore in the IPL so far. The selection committee, however, went for the batsman more experienced at the international level, in Rohit.

The choice of back-up spinner, which has been this selection committee's weakest suit, continues to baffle. Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra, who have been taking turns in travelling as the back-up spinner without actually getting a decent run in the team, were both overlooked in favour of Chawla. All three spinners have been in reasonable form in the IPL, with Mishra leading the way. Chawla last played for India during the 2008 Asia Cup in Pakistan.

"I had a really good Ranji Trophy season after a good county stint at Sussex. So I was confident about my cricket but about this Twenty20 selection it was 50-50," Chawla told Cricinfo. "So this call is a big surprise. I knew I would come back in the Indian team but I was not very, very confident about making it to the Twenty20 squad."


That MS Dhoni is returning from an injury must have prompted the selectors to pick a reserve wicketkeeper, although they don't lose much by way of a batsman because Dinesh Karthik has proved to be a good batsman in the Twenty20 format.

The World Twenty20 starts on April 30, five days after the end of the IPL; India are grouped with South Africa and Afghanistan.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Rohit Sharma

On the IPL Weekly, every week, Sanjay Manjrekar will look at some key trends that have caught his eye during this IPL

IPL's Alphonso fans
I have just discovered there is this new group of Twenty20 cricket fans who are just IPL cricket fans. These are fans who do not really care too much for Twenty20 cricket: given a choice between an India-South Africa Twenty20 game or a Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders, these are guys who will go for the IPL game. These are people who perhaps have little knowledge of what has happened in the last international cricket series in India but have great knowledge of the IPL teams. They suddenly sprout up around March-April just like the famous Alphonso mangoes of Western India that come into season around the same time. These are people who are seen around the game of cricket around March-April [during the IPL] and once the IPL is over they vanish, like the Alphonse mangoes, only to come back, at precisely the same time next year. These are the cricket fans who are interested in the game just during the IPL. They are not new Twenty20 cricket fans but are just fans of the IPL.

Vintage Tendulkar
One of the highlights of the IPL so far has been Sachin Tendulkar's form. It is something that I personally expected with his confidence and batting form being so good at international level. I got the feeling that would spill over onto Twenty20 cricket and that is exactly what we have seen. We have seen him at his best here and one of the things that has caught everybody's eye is that he has done his job; he has been an effective run-getter and he has not hit a single six so far in this IPL season. He is the third-highest run-getter at this stage and when you see guys like Yusuf Pathan who have not made as many runs but have hit about 11 sixes then his performance really comes across. It is a theory that Javed Miandad was a big fan of. He believed that when a batsman has a target of scoring nine runs an over he should never aim to score nine runs an over. He should aim to score six runs an over and then the batsman himself will be surprised at the bonus runs he can get from the opposition in the form of wides and no-balls and the odd misfield. When the target is nine runs an over and if you aim to get nine runs then the high-risk shots come in. You try a bit too hard and then you fail. That has happened to a lot of batsman who have been chasing and Tendulkar as once again shown the way that method, calm and a bit of common sense can still work in Twenty20 cricket.

Jayasuriya's struggles
Sanath Jayasuriya has been a bit off-colour, second season in a row so far. That for me, personally has been disappointing. I have been a huge fan of Jayasuriya and I have loved the way he has hit the ball. I have loved his exuberance as a left-arm bowler on the field. So I am a touch disappointed that he is looking a little forlorn out there. His head is down and the runs are not quite coming [especially] after the way he played in the first season for Mumbai Indians - in one innings that I saw at the Wankhede Stadium he flicked a medium pacer out of the stadium. I thought he would be a delight [to watch] in the next two or three years of the IPL and I am bit disappointed he is having such a tough time.

Balance between bat and ball
Finally, I have one little concern. When I see Twenty20 cricket being played in India I get a little worried about the balance between bat and ball. The boundaries get a little shorter; the pitches have absolutely nothing so the balance tilts heavily in favour of the batsman. The average score around this time when the IPL was being played in South Africa was about 150, this time it is well past 160. We have also seen around 185 sixes so far, so the swing in favour of the batsman can get a bit excessive when Twenty20 cricket is being played in India. I hope in the next two or three seasons the bowlers have something to play with and there is a better balance between bat and ball. As long as there is balance between bat and ball the discerning viewer will stay interested n the game. If the balance becomes too much in favour of the batsman - the batsmen now have fancy bats- then maybe the discerning viewer may switch off from Twenty20 cricket.

Shane Warne did not set the IPL alight in his first five matches this season, but he was terrific tonight in Ahmedabad. His captaincy was innovative as always and he bowled his best spell of the tournament, choking the run flow, dismissing a dangerous-looking Herschelle Gibbs, and helping Rajasthan Royals restrict Deccan Chargers' formidable batting line-up to a below-par total. Warne's charges responded to his leadership, with the ball and in the field, and the result was a clinical performance that set up Rajasthan's third win in a row.

Rajasthan's batting has blown hot and cold this season - scoring 200-plus in Mumbai and only 92 in Bangalore - but their performances gained consistency in the last two contests. Michael Lumb anchored another convincing display, leading the chase with a brisk 45, setting the platform for Yusuf Pathan to destroy Deccan's slim chances. Yusuf swung his bat powerfully, reached 50 off 23 balls, and sent a total of eight balls sailing over the boundary. The required-rate dipped below six in the ninth over, and Rajasthan eventually cruised past 148 with 26 balls to spare. The win catapulted Rajasthan from sixth to third in the points table.

Warne had promised surprises in the lead-up to this contest, but that he always does. After some confusion over who won the toss - Deccan had, and chose to bat - he unveiled his first. Adam Gilchrist thrives against speed while facing the new ball, and is perhaps familiar with the modus operandi of Shaun Tait, so Warne slowed it down by deploying little-known Sumit Narwal, who replaced Munaf Patel in this match.

Narwal got the ball to move away from Gilchrist, the IPL's most prolific six-hitter, and after two tight deliveries, induced a mis-hit that was held by Yusuf at mid-off. Deccan were 2 for 1 at the end of the first over.

Warne's next move didn't work. Yusuf is usually the go-to man when Warne wants to open with spin, but today he chose Abhishek Jhunjhunwala. Herschelle Gibbs responded by skipping down the pitch twice to loft the offspinner back over his head for sixes. The over cost 16, but Jhunjhunwala would make amends with two accurate throws to run out Andrew Symonds and Venugopal Rao later in the innings.

Laxman, meanwhile, had swatted Siddharth Trivedi to the midwicket boundary. The shot was forced and was further indication that Laxman isn't comfortable playing his naturally graceful game in the Twenty20 format. He tried it again against Tait - Warne had brought him on in the fifth over - and holed out to mid-on.

Symonds and Gibbs threatened to wrest the initiative. Symonds struck three boundaries in a Narwal over and the run-rate was still above nine when Warne came into the attack after the Powerplay. He bowled three tight balls to Symonds, and dismissed Gibbs with the next: drawing the batsman forward with flight and beating him with dip and turn. Naman Ojha took off the bails with Gibbs' foot on the line.

At 58 for 3, it was left to Rohit Sharma and Symonds to lift the innings, but a poor call left Symonds with no hope of completing the second before Jhunjhunwala's throw reached Warne, who had figures of 1 for 7 at the end of his second over. Two quiet overs followed before Rohit took on Trivedi, pulling him over midwicket for six and driving to the extra-cover boundary.

The wickets continued to fall - T Suman bowled, Venugopal Rao and Chaminda Vaas run out - but Rohit ensured runs were coming from at least one end. He was dropped by Adam Voges on the deep midwicket boundary on 30, and then smashed Tait and Narwal over the straight boundaries for sixes, before holing out on 49. His dismissal meant Deccan had to settle for 148, their lowest total of the season.

Lumb got Rajasthan's chase off to a fluent start by taking two boundaries of Vaas' first over. He was dropped by Gibbs at point off RP Singh when on 12 and made Deccan pay immediately. In RP's second over, Lumb helped himself to four consecutive boundaries against length deliveries, over point, through square leg, over mid-off and midwicket. The last ball went for four leg byes as well, and Rajasthan were firmly on their way.

The Yusuf show started after Naman Ojha was stumped, ending a partnership of 54. Gilchrist began with a slip and a silly point for Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf responded by sending the ball over the straight boundary. It was the beginning of an assault that rendered Deccan helpless. Yusuf would wind up and swing, sometimes it appeared as if he hadn't connected properly, but the ball would need fetching from beyond the boundary. He finished Deccan with 73 off 34 balls, Gilchrist put it succinctly when he said "We were pumped today".

Match Meter

RRGilchrist falls: The IPL's serial six-hitter mis-cues the fourth ball of the innings and is caught by Yusuf off Narwal. Deccan are 2 for 1.
RRWarne's magic: His first ball to Gibbs in the seventh over. It's flighted, draws the batsman forward and then dips and turns to leave him short of his crease. Naman Ojha does the rest.
RRSymonds stranded: There was no second run but they tried it anyway. Jhunjhunwala's throw was spot on and Symonds was yards short. Deccan 71 for 4 after 8.1 overs
RRLumb v RP Singh: 4,4,4,4, 0, 4lb. The fourth over of the chase cost Deccan 20 runs. This after Lumb was dropped by Gibbs in RP Singh's first over.
RRYusuf arrives… in the seventh over. Symonds sledged him, Gilchrist placed a slip and a silly point, Yusuf countered by lofting Pragyan Ohja for a straight six. It was the first of eight monstrous hits. Advantage Honours even

When India's selectors sit down to pick the team for the ICC World Twenty20 they will have to choose between form and class. It is not an easy choice, for in an ideal world both would go together. But it is a contest in which class must prevail, and the selectors must hope that Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, in particular, use the month available to become match-winners again.

The selectors must decide on eight batsmen and seven bowlers. They cannot compromise by picking fewer bowlers on the assumption that on some days the batsmen will chip in, because on days they don't, the game could be lost. Of those eight batsmen, two should be wicketkeepers, and India are well served in this area since both those can play as batsmen. Ideally two of them should be able to bowl. Similarly, of the seven bowlers picked, two must hold their own with the bat. That will give the team the balance that Twenty20 cricket demands.

Now let's see what we have and pick the players who walk in. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj (class over form), Yusuf Pathan, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. Now that is only nine and straightaway the first problem becomes apparent. Where are the bowlers? You need five seamers and two spinners, so let's start shortlisting those.

The options with seamers are Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Vinay Kumar. None of them bat, and though Zaheer can swing his bat a bit and Praveen Kumar can provide a few bonus runs here and there, it isn't good enough. And so I'm going to go a bit left field and insist that Irfan Pathan be in the side. I believe he has a huge amount to contribute, and it helps that he is willing to do anything a captain asks him to.

I have been a bit surprised by the way Kumar Sangakkara has used him for the King's XI. At Pathan's current pace I am not sure he can bowl the first over, or indeed the last three, where he can become predictable. I believe his place in the side is as a fifth bowler and lower-order batsman, and in that role he bowls largely in the middle overs.

So with him as the 10th player, we need to look at three seamers. Praveen must be one. Nehra could be a second if he his fit, and then you choose between Sreesanth, RP and Ishant. Neither is in any kind of form and it is one of those decisions where you go with the captain's gut feel. But RP is probably best equipped.

The second spinner is relatively easier to choose, since a left-armer is good value in this format. The top two spinners of that variety in India at the moment are Murali Kartik and Pragyan Ojha, but given that our seamers don't bat, that place will need to go to an allrounder and therefore to Ravindra Jadeja, who is clearly the third best spinner out of three. But he is good value in this format and so he becomes player No. 14.

The most contentious issue would be to assign the last batting spot. I believe there are four strong batting contenders: Manish Pandey, Virat Kohli, Robin Uthappa and Rohit Sharma, each of whom comes with strong skills. If you want a back-up for Gambhir and Sehwag, then I guess Pandey is the man; if a back-up for Yuvraj to bat in the middle overs (as many as there are), then Kohli could be the player, and if the selectors are looking for a strong finisher then either of Uthappa or Sharma, both of whom can bat anywhere in the order. Eventually it will be the captain's call but it is a dead heat for me.

I don't think India will start favourites given current form and possible fatigue (though that can only be as much of an excuse as a sales representative complaining after 20 days on the road), but I believe this playing XI will give India the best possible chance. In batting order: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan .

Harsha's 14-man World Twenty20 squadGautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, RP Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, and one from: Manish Pandey/ Virat Kohli/ Rohit Sharma/ Robin Uthappa

Jacques Kallis isn't often bowled by googlies. Legspinners don't bowl the first ball of a Twenty20 innings; that job is better left to bowlers of fast offbreaks, if at all a spinner is needed. Legspinners don't go round the stumps and beat a batsman in the flight, and then the wicketkeeper with sharp turn. Classical legspinners, Shane Warne excepted, are anyway not welcome in Twenty20 cricket. Amit Mishra has done all that, without giving up on the basics of orthodox legspin bowling.

On Thursday, with Royal Challengers Bangalore off to a good start in their chase, Delhi Daredevils were hurtling towards the bottom of the table when Mishra was introduced. The opposition at 55 for 0 in seven overs is no time to be brought on in a Twenty20 game. Kallis and Manish Pandey had not yet gone manic, and after a solid beginning the assault was expected. People in the stands behind extra cover (for Kallis) and midwicket for Pandey) were bracing themselves.

Mishra would have been forgiven had he started with a flat delivery, just to test the waters. But no. Out came a loopy legbreak first ball, followed by another, and by the end of a four-run over he had also surprised Pandey with a googly. In his next over came the real delicious blow.

It was only a matter of time before Kallis would look to go inside-out, and he did it to the fifth ball he faced from Mishra. This one turned out to be the googly, and Kallis was left stranded. Robin Uthappa came out and reverse-swept him first ball for four. Mishra's response was to flight the next ball even more.

In the next over, the pressure created by Mishra yielded two Bangalore wickets, and the whole game had come down to Uthappa. He has been in superb form this IPL, be it with lusty straight hitting, the cute reverse-sweeps or late-cuts. Mishra v Uthappa seemed like the contest that would settle the match. A big over would put Bangalore on course, a wicket or even a tight over would make Delhi the favourites.

Mishra's captain, Dinesh Karthik, played ball and kept him on. Both Uthappa and Eoin Morgan tried to put him off by reverse-sweeping him. Not happening. When Uthappa went for his final, fatal, reverse-sweep, Mishra shortened the length slightly, which meant the ball bounced slightly more, and the edge was taken. Three overs of smart, classical legspin, and the match was won.

This performance from Mishra was no fluke. Since his hat-trick and five-for in the first IPL, Mishra has been an important part of Delhi's line-up. His IPL performance was, in fact, the nudge that reminded the selectors of his first-class exploits and put him ahead of Piyush Chawla in the spinners' pecking order. Mishra will also agree that he has been a better bowler in Twenty20s than Tests; that the batsmen are under pressure to go after him helps him get his wickets. This is another rare sight: a legspinner thriving on Twenty20 cricket. That he does it with flight and drift is refreshing.

David Warner exploded at the top and Kedar Jadhav provided a fiery finish to charge Delhi Daredevils to a strong 183, which they defended with relative ease. It was Delhi's first win after three losses and also marked Royal Challengers Bangalore's first loss at home.

The pitch was drier than the previous tracks at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and Bangalore had to do much of the damage against the new ball if they were to hunt down the strong total. However, Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey were kept relatively quiet by tight spells from Dirk Nannes and Umesh Yadav. Nannes hit the deck hard and moved the ball enough to upset batsmen's timing and Yadav, the fastest Indian bowler currently going around in the circuit, with speeds consistently ticking over 140 kmph, surprised the batsmen with his line, length and bounce. And it wasn't all brawn from the youngster; he kept it relatively full to Kallis but hurled a few short deliveries at Pandey to keep him on a leash.

Bangalore's second opportunity to break free came in the eight over with the introduction of Andrew McDonald and Amit Mishra. It was the make or break moment, with Bangalore needing 129 from 13 overs, but Mishra slipped in fine spell to turn the game decisively in Delhi's favour. Mishra removed Kallis with a googly and induced Robin Uthappa to edge the reverse-sweep to inflict a double-strike from which Bangalore couldn't' recover. McDonald went for 18 runs in his first seven deliveries - Uthappa producing the shot of the day with a nonchalantly-hit six over the straight boundary - but bounced back in his second over by taking out Pandey, and when Rahul Dravid ran himself out in the same over the chase had derailed.

There was just one other moment of thrilling drama and it was provided by AB de Villiers, who jumped back at long-on to take an amazing one-handed catch, even as the ball appeared to have passed him, to get rid of Praveen Kumar.


Match Meter

DDWarner blasts away: He hits a frenetic 14-ball 33 to help Delhi loot 44 runs in 3.2 overs. The knock includes three fours, and two big sixes over long-on.DD RCB de Villiers and Karthik consolidate: The duo bat responsibly to ensure they preserve wickets for a late burst. Bangalore, though, stem the run-flow.
DDJadhav's perfect finish : Jadhav stars with a breezy fifty on his IPL debut, and takes Delhi to 183. His best shot is a flat-batted six over long-on off Kallis.
DDTight opening spells: Nannes and Yadav keep Kallis and Pandey on a leash. Nannes hits the deck hard, Yadav alters his length expertly.
DDMishra's double-strike: Bangalore need 129 from 13 overs when Mishra enters the fray. He removes Kallis with a googly and gets Uthappa to edge the reverse sweep to the keeper. Game over. Advantage Honours even


The Delhi bowlers produced a disciplined performance, but it was their batsmen who set up the game. There were three phases of play in Delhi's innings - an explosive start by Warner, a serene partnership in the middle-overs between AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik, and a fiery finish provided by Jadhav.

It was Jadhav who gave Delhi the perfect finish, but for the majority of the innings they rode on the momentum provided by Warner. It was as though he was playing stick cricket - see the ball and give it a mighty thump. The shot that stood out was a crunchy pulled-six off Dale Steyn but what caught his impish mindset was actually a mishit against the same bowler. It was just about back of length outside off and Warner went for an ambitious pull, but the ball screamed towards the cover boundary. It was Twenty20 cricket at its best (or worst, depending on your point of view) and both the bowler and the batsman smiled.

There were no smiles from any bowler for the rest of the time when Warner flat-batted length deliveries over in-field and launched mighty sixes over long-on, but the entertainment ended when he fell, unable to clear long-off with yet another of his lofted hits.

When he departed in the fourth over, the score read 44 for 1 and it soon turned to 58 for 2 with Sehwag falling to Vinay Kumar, who is gaining a reputation for taking big wickets. The game changed in character from there on. de Villiers and Karthik preferred to deal in singles as they nudged and drove their way around. The period wasn't without its shares of thrills, with de Villiers pulling and Karthik sweeping Kumble for boundaries but it was definitely a lot quieter than at the start.

It threatened to get grimmer for Delhi when Karthik and de Villiers got run out - Karthik backed up too far at the non-striker's end and de Villiers was caught short by a direct hit from Eoin Morgan at backward point - but Jadhav, an unknown commodity for many of the Bangalore bowlers, connected with a few big hits to push Delhi towards a strong total. The shot of his stay was an audacious flat-batted six over long-on to a short delivery from Jacques Kallis, and he moved around the crease and also threw in a few deft shots - a late cut against Kumble being the highlight. The bowlers, caught off-guard, didn't know whether to bounce at him or bowl full, and Jadhav exploited that to the fullest to push Delhi to a very competitive total.

During the IPL auction this year, Chennai Super Kings wanted to buy a fast bowler but failed to pursue their targets with the single-minded determination necessary to land a big catch. After losing allrounder Kieron Pollard to Mumbai Indians during the silent tiebreaker, Chennai bid aggressively for Shane Bond but dropped out of the race once the price passed $600,000. They then pursued the West Indian quick Kemar Roach, bidding higher than they had for Bond, but let Deccan Chargers have him for $720,000. They did not chase Wayne Parnell.

The deficiency in the fast-bowling stocks as a result of those failed bids, especially after the injuries to Andrew Flintoff and Jacob Oram, has hurt Chennai's campaign severely. The franchise reportedly rated the best in the IPL in terms of brand value doesn't possess one of game's best match-winners - a genuine fast bowler.

Today, Chennai's attack was led by Albie Morkel. Bangalore's Dale Steyn spearheads the bowling for South Africa, Kolkata's Bond opens for New Zealand, Mumbai's Zaheer Khan leads India's attack, Delhi's Dirk Nannes and Rajasthan's Shaun Tait do the job for Australia, and Deccan's Chaminda Vaas was Sri Lanka's new-ball expert for years. Morkel, the tall South African, is usually first or second change for his national side.

Morkel has failed to make much of an impact with only four wickets in six matches. He's been given the new ball but has often finished a first spell without denting the opposition's batting order. His control has been good but that amounts to little without wickets, especially when there's not much firepower to come. It would be unfair to pin it on Morkel, though, for he isn't a natural strike bowler. Circumstances have made Chennai give him that responsibility.

Most of the other franchises have a support cast of international quality fast bowlers as well. Mumbai, for example, had Lasith Malinga, Dwayne Bravo, Pollard and Ryan McLaren. Chennai possess the gentle medium-pace of L Balaji and Joginder Sharma, both easy prey for batsmen intent on attack. They have Makhaya Ntini on the bench but his form in recent months has been poor and he hasn't got a game yet. There are no other reserves.

The Indian bowlers sharing the new ball with Morkel are Balaji, Sudeep Tyagi and Manpreet Gony. Balaji has the ability to produce variations that can take batsmen by surprise but his accuracy is poor. Tyagi is still raw and, despite an encouraging performance in Bangalore, is a work in progress. Despite spending time in the Indian dressing room over the last six months, Tyagi hasn't put those lessons into practice in the middle. Gony blows hot and cold.

MS Dhoni acknowledged bowling was an area of concern, with the tournament approaching the halfway stage and Chennai having lost four out of six games. "We are lacking confidence in the bowling department," Dhoni said after the defeat to Mumbai.

But he did not agree that a tearaway quick would solve his team's problems. "It is not just about pace. Because if that was the case, Shaun Tait would've been doing really well and Chaminda Vaas wouldn't have been taking wickets." Fair point, but he would love to have the option of a Tait to try and rattle the opposition openers.

Sachin Tendulkar was the rudder, Shikhar Dhawan provided propulsion, and they combined for a 92-run opening partnership which charted Mumbai Indians' course for success at the Brabourne Stadium. The victory helped the hosts steam past Royal Challengers Bangalore and take top spot in the league with a game in hand. The absence of major setbacks during the pursuit of a formidable target, on a day their usually efficient bowling attack failed, emphasised Mumbai's status as one of the tournament favourites.

Chennai Super Kings also had several things going for them as they sought to nip their budding losing streak: MS Dhoni had returned, Matthew Hayden bludgeoned Zaheer Khan to seize the initiative, and Suresh Raina and S Badrinath forged a partnership of 142, the second-best of all IPLs. However, their bowling attack is perhaps the competition's weakest and Dhoni had too many chinks to find cover for against a ruthless batting line-up. Muttiah Muralitharan apart, none of the others caused a flutter, and Mumbai cruised home with an over to spare. The defeat was Chennai's third in a row and their fourth in six games.

Mumbai's start wasn't fluent. There were few boundaries in the early overs, and a healthy helping of extras were needed to stay abreast of the asking-rate. Tendulkar's timing wasn't there, though that had little to do against the bowling of Albie Morkel and L Balaji. Then Dhoni gave the fifth over to Joginder Sharma, who did not play the previous game, and Dhawan cut loose, peppering the leg-side boundary with two pulls and a flick. The 50 was up in the fifth over and Dhawan accelerated further in the next by pulling Balaji for consecutive sixes.


Dhoni tried left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati after the fielding restrictions were lifted, but Dhawan greeted him with a reverse-swat to the boundary. In Jakati's second over, Dhawan charged and lofted him straight to reach a 31-ball fifty with a six. He holed out three balls later, but had already caused serious damage. Morkel had been satisfactory but the rest, especially the unthreatening medium-pace of Balaji and Joginder, had leaked runs.

Murali, who had come on in the eighth over, trapped Saurabh Tiwary lbw in the tenth during the only phase when Chennai reined Mumbai in. They scored 94 off nine overs and only 12 off the next three. Mumbai needed 75 off 48 balls and it was now that Tendulkar decided to hit his first six of the season, stepping out to Murali and lofting him over long-on. He didn't demolish the bowling during this half-century, brought up off 40 balls, but stayed in long enough to ensure there would be no hiccups during the chase.

The introduction of Thissara Perera sealed Chennai's fate. The debutant started with a full toss - on offer aplenty from Balaji and Joginder too - that Tendulkar put away to fine leg for four. He then bowled two more, and Tendulkar glanced them both off his pads effortlessly. While Tendulkar was being steady, Pollard muscled 20 off 9 balls to hack away at the asking-rate, and Dwayne Bravo ended it with Caribbean flair, flicking and pulling Balaji for boundaries.

Mumbai's batsmen rose to the challenge on a day their bowlers under-performed. Only Ryan McLaren, who took the new ball for the first time, and Harbhajan Singh exerted control over Chennai's scoring-rate, while Zaheer, Bravo and Lasith Malinga, who was first used only in the 11th, went for over ten an over.

Hayden wielded his bat like a club from the start. He missed the first ball, a wide from Zaheer, and hit the second to mid-on. The next four, all length deliveries with width, disappeared to different parts of the off-side boundary, each placed straighter than the previous one and dispatched with immense power off the front foot. Those hits were with a regular bat but Hayden called for the little one when Harbhajan came on in the third over. He lasted two balls before a slider caught him in front, leaving Chennai on 32 for 1.

Parthiv Patel followed soon after, bowled off his pads by a McLaren yorker, which brought together Raina and Badrinath. Raina was severe on Bravo, hitting his first two balls for a six and a four, chipping him over the slips before dealing him another six and four a few deliveries later. He brought up his half-century off 32 balls, Badrinath lofted Zaheer over his head to reach 50 off 41. They added 142, but towards the end were unable to find the fifth gear. Chennai had plenty of wickets in hand and looked set for 200-plus, but Malinga returned and conceded only seven off the final over to keep them to well below that. In the end, 180 wasn't enough.

Match Meter

CSKHayden demolishes Zaheer: The first ball is edged above slips for four, the next is carved over point, the third rockets over cover and the fourth screams past mid-off. Chennai are 22 after two overs
CSKChennai keep the momentum: Hayden's gone. Raina steps up, pulling Bravo's first ball for six, and punching the next to the extra-cover boundary in the sixth over.
MIMalinga's return: Raina and Badrinath have added 135 runs, but Malinga bowls an outstanding final over, conceding only seven. Chennai reach 180 when 200 was once a possibility.
MIMumbai get a move on: The chase begins slowly, until Dhawan hits Joginder for three fours in the fifth over. Sixteen come off it, and Mumbai are away.
MISachin's first six: Mumbai need 75 off 48 balls. They've scored only 12 in the last three overs. Tendulkar decides it's time and charges Murali, lifting him over the long-on boundary in the 13th over. The balance is tilted Mumbai's way, permanently. Advantage Honours even

Rajasthan Royals backed up a strong batting performance from Adam Voges and Faiz Fazal with a disciplined bowling effort that choked Kings XI Punjab after their top order had delivered a promising start. The 31-run win meant Rajasthan climbed to a joint-fourth position on the points table, leaving Punjab, who have lost four out of five games, at the bottom. A blistering cameo by Manvinder Bisla had raised Punjab's hopes of scaling down a large target, but a combination of crafty bowling, agile fielding and some irresponsible batting crushed any possibility of a successful chase.


Though the margin of defeat indicates a dominating show by Rajasthan, Punjab had their chances. Their bowlers managed to fight back after a strong start by the Rajasthan openers but faltered at the death in the wake of an assault from Voges and Fazal. Kumar Sangakkara and Bisla blazed away in their reply, racing to 76 in the first six overs, the highest score of the tournament after the Powerplay. But clever variations from seamers Siddharth Trivedi and Munaf Patel, and some uninspiring batting from the rest of the line-up, cut short what was gearing up to be a more exciting fixture.

The conditions at the PCA Stadium in Mohali were conducive for fast bowling with the Punjab opening bowlers beating the outside edge on more than one occasion, and Shaun Tait doing the same during the chase. Tait, who had a poor start to the IPL, bowled a couple of excellent outswingers at Ravi Bopara but suffered an onslaught from Sangakkara, whose frequent hits to the boundary were as much a consequence of good fortune as the batsman's conviction.

A smattering of fours through cover was followed by an inside edge to fine leg before Tait, dropping one short, led the Punjab captain to upper-cut a catch straight to third man; but not before 41 had been scored in the first four overs.

Bisla's brazen aggression threatened to set Punjab on course, but also contributed to his downfall, a result of a well-executed strategy from Shane Warne. Bisla, who shot to limelight with a blazing 75 against Bangalore, tore into Munaf off just his second ball. Given the restrictions, he had figured out his scoring areas, and proceeded to take 18 off the fifth over, including two fours and six through the leg side. Warne, too, suffered a similar fate, smashed for 10 in two balls but Bisla's ploy to strike against the turn cost him. Anticipating a slog, Warne had a deep midwicket in place, flighted the ball, Bisla obliged and holed out.

Yuvraj Singh had returned to form in a thrilling chase against Chennai, and looked to continue that when he smacked a straight six off Warne. But his ill-executed shot off Trivedi, having been dropped two balls earlier, marked the beginning of a dismal collapse that squandered a healthy position of 107 for 2 in the 11th over.

Both Munaf and Trivedi frequently took the pace off the ball which the Punjab batsmen, including Yuvraj and Bopara, failed to read. When Irfan Pathan was run-out brilliantly by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala in the 13th over, and Mohammad Kaif trapped in front by Yusuf Pathan 11 balls later, Punjab had lost four batsmen for 19 runs in 23 balls. Rajasthan had virtually sealed the game, and were met with little resistance when running through the rest of the batting.

Just as in their batting, Punjab had slipped up with the ball when the game had been on even terms. They had the better of the conditions after choosing to field, but Sreesanth, Shalabh Srivastava and Irfan struggled for control with the ball moving around. Short balls were dispatched through point by the openers Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha, while full deliveries were picked up with ease over the leg-side field.

Lumb had a woeful start to the tournament, but played with confidence, matching his aggressive partner Ojha stroke for stroke. However, Punjab struck to remove the openers within the first eight overs and earned the big scalp of Yusuf Pathan, caught off a slower one with seven overs still to go.

But the stage was set for yet another turn in the game, as the Punjab bowlers failed to measure up to improvisations from Voges. He found the boundary with ease, piercing the gaps, following a well laid-out plan. Joining Fazal, Voges had marked his scoring areas. The spaces on either side, between long-on and deep midwicket and long-off and deep extra cover, were exploited, as Yuvraj, Piyush Chawla and Irfan were taken for two fours and a six in consecutive overs.

Fazal, too, began fluently but ceded the floor to Yusuf and then Voges before opening up. He seized on length deliveries to dispatch four boundaries in successive overs off Irfan and Rusty Theron in the death overs; his 60-run stand with Voges, off 37 balls, gave Rajasthan a formidable total, one that thwarted Sangakkara's plans at the toss to limit them to under 150 and handed their team another morale-boosting win.

Match Meter

RRLack of control: Punjab have the better of the conditions but their fast bowlers fail to make use. Lumb and Ojha put on 35 in under four overs, and Lumb carries on for more.RR KXIP The fall of Yusuf: Irfan Pathan drops brother Yusuf, but returns in the 13th over to snare him with a slower delivery. Rajasthan are 111 for 3, and Punjab are in with a chance of containing them.
RRVoges and Fazal shine: Voges takes off on his first ball, smacking Yuvraj Singh for four and continues to find boundaries with ease. Fazal opens up at the death, and the pair adds 60 to take Rajasthan to 183.
KXIPA promising start: Sangakkara strikes Tait for three fours in the fourth over and Bisla follows up with 32 more in the next two. Punjab reach 76 for 1 after the Powerplay, the highest in the first six overs this IPL.
RRA costly lapse: Yuvraj is given a reprieve the ball before but goes again for a big one in the 11th over, misreads a slower one from Trivedi and is caught. In a collapse, eight wickets fall for 45 and Punjab are beaten. Advantage Honours even

"I'm just an ordinary cricketer who is working hard," said Robin Uthappa during the mid-innings break. His 38-ball 68 that rescued Royal Challengers Bangalore's innings, however, was anything but ordinary. Uthappa's eleventh-hour blitz helped his team recover from a shaky start and sluggish middle overs, after which Bangalore's bowlers throttled Chennai Super Kings to move to the top of the points table.

Chennai took wickets during the early and middle overs but it was the final 19 deliveries of Bangalore's innings, where Uthappa blazed away, that made the difference. Dropped on 5 and 25, Uthappa helped Bangalore take 52 runs off them, lifting his team from 119 after 17 overs to 171 for 5, when at one stage 150 looked difficult.

It was the speed and power with which Uthappa collected his runs that was dazzling: his last 39 came off ten balls. The over that swung the momentum Bangalore's way was the penultimate one, in which Uthappa - whose improvisation makes him the ideal Twenty20 batsman - struck three successive sixes off L Balaji to ransack 24 from six balls.

Until that explosion, Bangalore had struggled. From the time their talisman opener Jacques Kallis was bowled for 19 in 4.4 overs, ending a splendid run of four unbeaten innings, the home side failed to overcome Chennai's bowlers. On a juiced-up surface, an eagerly-awaited contest began with Chennai's new-ball duo wondering just what was needed to make a breakthrough. They thought they had success in the first over, when a peach of a delivery from Albie Morkel appeared to shave the outer edge of Kallis' bat, but it was not to be.

Manish Pandey rode his luck, following up an inside-edged four to fine leg with a top edge that dropped between two fielders, and then Kallis charged Morkel, slashing a thick outside edge that was lost in the lights by L Balaji at third man. Off the very next delivery, Kallis edged Morkel wide of a diving slip for four more.

Once Kallis went for 19, missing a straight one from Balaji, Bangalore's innings lost direction. Pandey continued to live dangerously without imposing himself. Then for the second time a wicket immediately followed a boundary. Rahul Dravid rocked back and dispatched Muttiah Muralitharan's fifth delivery for four; the sixth was a topspinner that pitched on middle and leg and beat the bat to crash into the stumps.

When the strategic time-out rolled around - that's the pace at which the innings panned out - Chennai had restricted Bangalore to their poorest start yet, 61 for 2. That soon became 63 for 3 when Pandey slogged Murali and was held by Suresh Raina at mid-on. However, Chennai proceeded to reprieve Uthappa and conceded substantial ground.

Confident after Uthappa's heroics, Bangalore began snuffing out the chase. Praveen Kumar has a knack of getting early wickets and troubling left-hand batsman, and he got Parthiv Patel to edge one in the first over. Chennai struggled during the Powerplay, finishing the six-over block on 29 for 1. Matthew Hayden called for the Mongoose immediately after and hit Kallis for three consecutive fours, but he and George Bailey were unable to get Anil Kumble away. Mixing flippers and googlies exceptionally, Kumble kept a check on runs and the pressure resulted in Hayden being run out by Rahul Dravid's underarm hit.

That breakthrough brought another, and R Vinay Kumar's perfect seam position dismissed Bailey for a woeful 18 from 27 balls. Vinay struck a bigger blow in his next over when he got Suresh Raina to slash to Kallis at third man, and then Kumble sent back M Vijay. The innings never recovered after four wickets had fallen for 17 runs. Vinay went for a few runs but finished with a four-wicket haul to help Bangalore surge ahead of Mumbai Indians in the points table.

Match Meter

CSKKallis contained: He has been unbeaten in the IPL but today he was far from solid. Kallis charged, played and missed, edged to third man, and was eventually bowled for 19 in 4.4 overs.
CSKDouble blow: Bangalore had laid a base - 110 for 3 - when they lost two wickets - Virat Kohli and Eoin Morgan - in the 15th and 16th overs.
RCBThe game-changer: Uthappa v Balaji in the 19th over. The first four balls disappeared for 4,6,6 and 6. Bangalore surged ahead by 24 runs in six balls.
RCBFirst-over boost: Facing a higher target than expected, Chennai lost Parthiv Patel in the first over to Praveen Kumar. Their momentum never reached desired levels thereafter.
RCBHayden departs: A direct hit from Rahul Dravid got rid of Hayden in the 10th over. His departure for 32 off 28 balls was effectively the end of Chennai's challenge. Advantage Honours even

Fumbling times for Tare

Twice in the first over of the match, Aditya Tare failed to collect the ball cleanly. On both occasions the ball arrived at a slower pace than the Mumbai glove-man would've expected, but both times Tare was besides the line of the delivery instead of lining himself behind. He continued to fumble frequently, adding to the bowlers' and Sachin Tendulkar's frustration. Three overs before the Kolkata innings came to an end, Ryan McLaren's attempted yorker to Owais Shah went wide, but Tare was once again was slow off his haunches, and his dive came late as the opposition picked a few more extras.

Simon says not out
Dwayne Bravo picked a return ball from Chris Gayle and immediatlely threw at the stumps, finding the Jamaican halfway down the pitch. But Gayle, having been sent back by Sourav Ganguly, charged back home to beat Bravo's direct throw in the nick of time. Simon Taufel, the square-leg umpire, did the right thing to re-arrange the bails and avoid cutting the rhythm of the match, even if the entire Mumbai team pleaded him to refer the decision to the third umpire.

Bravo, bravo
After his first over in the second spell went for 13 runs, Bravo, before passing the ball to the captain, bounced it hard on the pitch in disgust but the rebound came back swiftly to hit him flush on the face. Bravo didn't wince, and the consummate cricketer that he is, was furious at himself for leaking runs.

"Sky is your limit", Dinda to Gayle
During the batting time out taken by Kolkata, 12th man Ashok Dinda rushed into the field, along with Dav Whatmore. As the Kolkata coach got busy with Owais Shah, Dinda threw the towel to Gayle and started pointing towards the top tier of the CCI pavilion, inspiring the West Indian to hit over the sky. Though the distance was within manageable limits for the 6'4" tall West Indian, it was a big challenge considering the Mumbai bowlers were firing yorker-length deliveries at him consistently; in the end Dinda's demands went unfulfilled.

Hazare presses the panic button
On the final delivery of the Kolkata innings, Zaheer Khan fired in a searing inswinging yorker against Gayle. Gayle had moved a step down the legside when the ball hit him on the toe of his back leg, which was easily half a yard, if not a full one, down the leg side. But the umpire Sanjay Hazare, reluctant initially, finally raised his finger after Zaheer started to appeal incessantly.

Kartik goes blind, makes Dada angry
Murali Kartik, Kolkata's best bowler, made an impact immediately by picking a wicket in his first over. And in the following over, he nearly snatched the prized wicket of Tendulkar, as the Mumbai captain's leading edge flew back towards Kartik. However, Kartik failed to sight the ball at all and came up with a late attempt which proved to be unsatisfactory. Ganguly, standing at cover shrieked at his bowler knowing well it would be the most important turning point of the match as Tendulkar was on 41 and the match still hung in the balance.

Ganguly gives extra workouts
Throughout the Mumbai innings bowlers argued with Ganguly about the fields he was setting. One fine example was when Angelo Mathews pushed Shane Bond back towards the third man and positioned Owais Shah at short-fine leg. The very next instant, Ganguly got Bond inside the circle while sending Shah towards fine leg. Mathews argued strongly, waving his hands, forcing Ganguly to reverse his decision. Ganguly's indecisiveness only added to the workload of his fielders.